Under Arteta’s guidance, Arsenal’s transfer strategy has become increasingly characterized by buying players more for their potential than their current skill level. This strategy has sometimes left the club, Edu, and Mikel Arteta criticized for the deals they pull off.
A perfect example of a move many didn’t understand was Ben White’s 2021 move from Brighton to Arsenal for £50 million. Some Gooners were worried about paying off such a fee for a Brighton player then.
Other than White’s deal in the same transfer window, some Gooners who wanted James Maddison to join and take over the playmaker role, expressed disgust when Martin Odegaard was instead signed for £30 million.
Goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale’s arrival for £24 million also received so much outcry considering he was a keeper relegated twice from the premier league.
Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko were bought for a combined £75 million from Manchester City, and several fans and media outlets criticized Arsenal for buying Man City rejects, they said.
Fortunately, as you are reading this, I believe you agree that each of the transfers, as mentioned above, has now made sense; these players have excelled
At the Emirates Stadium, leave alone Declan Rice, who no one doubts, there is a lot of optimism and anticipation that Kai Havertz, one of this summer’s marquee signings whose deal was formally announced on Wednesday night, will follow in their footsteps.
Arsenal is spending more than £60 million for the German because they think they can make him more effective than he ever was at Stamford Bridge rather than trying to replace the player who played for Chelsea last season.
The fact that Havertz was purchased indicates trust in the German international. But it also shows how much Arsenal still believes in Arteta and how much the manager believes in his performance on the field.
Arteta believes that Havertz can succeed, so why shouldn’t we?
Moggy
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He scored many goals by playing false-nine for Germany, so he should be able to do it with Arteta’s system
Based on his games that I watched, his touches were more consistent than Pepe’s and he’s very good in the air
If he fails as a CF, Arteta could always use him as an AM
GAI
i have to be honestly and cant see MA using him as a CF.
he just isn’t good enough to play up top in that position full time.
on the odd occasion may be but again that’s a big ask .
i am more optimistic in him playing in Xhaka position if we decide to sell Xhaka of course.
his work rate and press has always been good so happy with that. he is a better finisher then Xhaka so hopefully will add more goals for the team as he will for sure have more chances then he did at chelski.
only doubt for me is if he his switched on enough to track back and be more defensively minded, which Xhaka done for us on many occasion last season.
its a lot of money to throw away on a player if he doesn’t get it right plus i thought we had ready made players within the squad who i thought could do the same job as him.
this one makes me nervous but do hope he hits the ground running for us in what ever position he is called upon so we can all put our worries to bed.
Alan, I think Smith-Rowe, Vieira, Nelson and Trossard will compete to replace Xhaka, but Arteta could also assign Havertz in that position
If Havertz plays ahead of them, some of those players might get shipped out
Gai, I don’t think Arteta would use him as a false 9 as long as GJesus is fit. Trossard in my opinion did best for us as false 9 he can score though not like Havertz but his assist are unmatched. I think Havertz will operate in Xhaka’s position to be effective. And he could score many goals from there. I only worry about his defensive capacity. But I guess when Havertz attacks Zichenko will fill space he leaves at the back without his usual forward forays.
Yes, Sylva. Trossard might also play false-nine again, because he was productive there
Most Arsenal fans are nervous because Ozil and Nickolos Pepe still fresh in their memory.
Big money attacking players that didn’t work out perfectly at Arsenal..
I agree with that. I hope it doesn’t come true
Forever
In my opinion this signing has an 85% chance of succeeding.
Neither of whom Arteta bought by the way
Neil
Don’t think it matters seriously, Havertz will be a success in my opinion
I think the three are all different and perhaps there is the reason why Havertz was preferred. We can only speculate about how Arteta will utilise Havertz.Perhaps Havertz is seen as a player who can offer something we currently don’t have whereas the roles played by Maddison and Mount can be played by Odegaard and ESR respectively.
one word Viera.
I hate giving Chelsea money.
helping them out of a hole.
I would have like to kept the money
in case some thing better became available.
I would say it’s 50/50 on edu and Artetas signings thus far ,as for Havertz I’m not sure how that will pan out TBH ,he comes with a big price tag so needs to deliver same for Rice 170 million in total ,when you look at the 2 lads Liverpool have signed for 95 million i would say they got the better deal but time will tell .
On Liverpool I think they will be right in the mix this season ,Szoboszlai is an excellent buy who I’m surprised more teams were not in for him and if they get Lavia then that midfield will be right on it .
Hopefully we can pull off getting Lavia ourselves but I’ve read it all hangs on if Partey goes .
Dan, With Jorginho and DRice there defensive stats are very good though we need younger breed to assist Jorginho in case Pathey leaves ie Youssouf Fofana very good. I reckon Liverpool with Knlopp buying right players will be a force to compete next season. And same with New Castles who just bought Tonali a very good midfielder. I just kind of feel apart from DRice we need additional “steel” in midfield. May be if Elneny is fit.
Agree with you DK especially about Szoboszlai who looks a seriously good footballer. Also both players are on a reported £150k pw!!! I still have doubts about Havertz strengthening our squad but hope I’m wrong.
I disagree, Dan. Liverpool have spend almost 100M on a player unproven in this league and a DM that was the primary defensive option for the team who finished bottom of the league. How you can possibly think they have done better business is beyond me.
Havertz won’t be playing as CF or false nine, he will play the attacking 8 role similar to where Xhaka played last season. Talking of Xhaka, I’ve been reading on a couple of outlets a deal finally agreed with Leverkusen for a fee of £22.5 million / €25 million which will happen once Rice is confirmed.
👏
Atleast someone actually realises why he was bought in and in place of .
You’ve obviously missed ALL of my posts, Dan. I am a huge advocate for Havertz and think he will blossom in our side. Don’t be surprised if he is top scorer next season playing as AM.
The timing of his runs into the box is better than anyone else at the club and his aerial ability is fantastic. A cuddle and some confidence is all he needs and he will get both at Arsenal.
That’s a very good price for the 30yrs old Swedish international.
Gunsmoke
Swiss – agree if the price is correct on what you said but seeing is believing considering we turned down 10m a season or so ago
I think because he’s just had his best season ever for us, 7 goals and 7 assists, a season or so ago he was a hot headed DM, now he’s a more sensible box to box midfielder.
Alanball08
Honestly, I wasn’t looking for Xhaka to fetch that much but we’ll see..
It would have been they had watch him and studied him carefully and put a serious value on his contribution.
He is not bless with pace but seems to have remarkable positioning skills, but he does so effortlessly you really don’t appreciate it until he’s absent.
Have you noticed he’s like an unofficial captain on the team very vocal consistently and selfless, sorry I got carried away
GS
I have to admit that I was one of XHAKA worst critics
A mistake waiting to happen blah blah blah
Hold my hands up and say he has been a rock for us
Showed the leadership skills we craved for
Scores the goals
Saved the days on many occasions this past season
What do i know about football.. and players…
Has certainly turned the feelingsabout him around
Has been a credit
Will be a loss to us and the team when he goes or if he goes
Wish him all the best And he will do a good job for someone where ever he goes
👍🏻👍🏻
Instead of judging Kai Havertz for his performance in Chelsea shirt, let’s judge the player on his raw ability and what he can bring to the table. After all, Mikel Arteta bought Ramsdale(twice relegated), White(nobody RCB at Brighton), Odegaard(a big failure at most clubs) and Gabriel(similar raw talent like Havertz). He also improved Saka(from LB to RW), Jesus(from pressing CF to tanking CF) and Zinchenko(from inverted LB to the free role maverick). If anyone can break Havertz’s shell, it’s Mikel Arteta.
Please enough of those. We all get the talks of trusting and supporting Mikel which is great, but coming up with baseless talks isn’t good for yourself.
Arteta “improved Saka from LB to RW”? Really?
FYI Zinch is a known MF who only Pep asked (converted) to play LB or LWB. And FHS, he was majorly a LB for us all season!
Jesus? If anything is to go by, he’s been poor bar his first games.
You surely don’t/didn’t watch football to know Odegaard was seen by everyone as the next big global gem from Norway, and was only yet to ‘step up’ at RM, no thanks to their amazing MF.
White, a nobody? Brighton squeezed Arsenal of 50m bucks for a “nobody?” Fans only thought the fee was too much for a defender, but he’s lived up to it.
PS:
Let’s not even talk of Willian and other ridiculous signings Arteta sanctioned!
Wow! no surprise there is no reply.
As fans we all want Arteta to succeed but his score card regarding transfers is hit and miss. Pluses are Odegaard, Zivchenko, Jesus; jury still out Trossard, White, Jorginho, Tomiyasu and after that a group of failures. He obviously must see something in Havertz, that wasn’t shown at Chelsea but I’m fine with him taking Xhaka a spot. He offers a lot more mobility and will make more of the opportunities.
I agree with you Joe, though I’d directly swap the positions of Jesus and White on the lists.
While I think Havertz is a decent buy, is he worth the fee and becoming our top earner? That’s only my doubt and those of many gunners, who think maybe, maybe the cash could have gone to a more proven name up front (CF) as we have seen Jesus last season, and not sure about Eddie and Balogun – From another unpopular perspective, Jesus and our non-prolific/ruthlessness form in front of goals cost us last season.
Do2 you are really one point .. acquiring havertz based on potential just for that sum and making him the highest earner is rediculous for a player who has not been lived up to potential since he arrived Chelsea,, the arsenal board deserves some serious questioning for that…
Even if he (havertz) lives up to expected,, it’s not logical enough making him the highest earner when he is still yet to prove himself…and this shit can bring disharmony in the squad in the nearest future,, cos he won’t and doesn’t deserve the 330k, no matter how good he turns into.
I like Havertz and expect him to become a key figure for our club over the next decade. He has a perfect blend of RvP and Mesut Özil. His aerial ability will give us an extra dimension and his timing of when to arrive in the box is better than anyone currently at the club.
With the pressure of being the primary goal threat removed, I expect him to be able to express himself and, ironically, be more efficient in front of goal. He isn’t going to be another Joelinton but we can expect a similar transition from flop to cult hero. Joelinton scores more as a two-way MF than he did as a striker.
“Arteta believes Haveretz can succeed, so why shouldn’t Arsenal fans?”.
It’s the very nature of some online Arsenal fans not to believe and to offer ludicrous alternatives in their pathetic attempts to disrupt and troll good article writers.
Arteta has a vision in his mind, of how he sees Havertz playing for Arsenal.
The rest of us have have only seen Havertz play for Chelsea and we have that vision in our mind.
Let’s hope Arteta’s vision is the correct one!